Christmas in Cabbagetown

December 16, 2012

Oh, how I love Christmastime. Decorating our house is one of my favorite holiday activities, and I try to change up the look a little each year. (You can check out 2011’s decorations here.) We hosted a holiday party last week, and I added something festive to nearly every room in our house for the occasion. Overall, I think the end result is very merry and not in-your-face overwhelming, but I’ll let you be the judge.

So let’s start the tour of our indoor Christmas decorations, shall we? We’ll begin in the living room.

Like past years, our Christmas tree is in the corner of the room. It’s an artificial tree we bought five years ago for around $100, and it still looks good as new. Lately Jamie and I have been debating whether we’d want a real tree instead, but are still on the fence. Anyone feel super strongly either way?

On the other side of the room is our fireplace. It sadly doesn’t work, but I pulled off the cover and put some candles in the base this year. The mantle is decorated simply — with stockings for Jamie, Henry and I, and plenty of candles.

I didn’t snap a close-up photo of it, but our shutter-turned-mail holder on the side of the fireplace leading to the kitchen is once again packed with holiday cards from friends and family. It brings me such joy!

Next up is the kitchen, where people always seem to congregate at parties. Since we threw a holiday bash this year, I knew I wanted the room to be extra festive.

I decorated the mantle with our first family Christmas photo, gold candle votives, two Ikea Statist trees that I spray-painted silver, and some gift boxes. We bought those trees for our wedding back in 2008, and I love that they’re now part of our holiday routine each year.

We strung lights above the cabinets, which was a quick and easy decoration. It’s not the cleanest look, but it works. (And I actually like the effect of the glow so much that I’m considering keeping the lights up year-round — stay tuned on whether that happens.)

For our table centerpiece, we kept things simple with a bowl full of cheap-but-cute ornaments.

We added other little festive touches, too — the totally charming handmade potholders that my aunt Karen made a few years ago, Christmas towels and mugs, and a holiday greeting on our chalkboard.

Next up, we brought some Christmas cheer to the mudroom …

Our goofy-but-sweet family Christmas card is on display. It’s the tiniest touch, but it makes me smile.

The bathroom probably doesn’t seem like the most natural place for decorations, but I put some red ornaments in a glass jar, and I think it turned out lovely.

And, yes, we even decorated the man cave.

I wrapped an extra strand of Christmas lights around the railing, which doubled as a coat rack for our party. Again, the lights are so lovely I wish I could keep them up year round.

And, finally, we created a little holiday display on a trunk with an Ikea tree with ornaments, some gift boxes, and my beloved Charlie Brown Christmas album. It’s cute and quirky — perfect for the man cave.

Sadly, the only room in the house that didn’t get any extra holiday cheer was our bedroom, which is still a work in progress.

Thankfully, Henry is taking care of that for us!

p.s. I’m planning to share photos of our outdoor decorations as well as some party decor pics in the next week or so. And, of course, we’ll have to take our annual Christmas family photo this year. All I need is for time to slow down so I can squeeze it all in!